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Thursday, November 20, 2014

In Iraq's Tel Skuf, Christians Reportedly Hold Mass Again

There have been reports this week
that refugees from the Christian town of Tel Skuf in northern Iraq have
managed to hold the first mass in the town since it was recaptured from
Islamic State (IS) militants in August.

Tel Skuf is a predominantly Assyrian town in Iraq's Nineveh Province, some 30 kilometers north of Mosul.

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces managed to dislodge IS gunmen from Tel Skuf in August, amid U.S.-led air strikes targeting IS in Nineveh Province.

There are several discrepancies between various accounts of the mass in Tel Skuf, however.According to reports in various Iraqi outlets,
the mass was held in the Mar Yacob (St. Jacob's) Church, one of two
churches in Tel Skuf. The Vatican news outlet Agenzia Fides, however,
reports that the mass was held in another church, St. George's.

According to Fides, the mass was celebrated by a group of refugees who fled the town when Islamic State took over the area.

The refugees did not stay in Tel Skuf after the mass, according to
Fides, which cited a Chaldean priest in Mosul, Paul Thabit Mekko, as
saying that "a group of young men, now refugees in Kurdistan, wanted to
go there with a priest for a few hours, with the intent to open the
church, ring the bells and celebrate mass. After the liturgy they
returned to the north, in places where they are currently living as
refugees."

Tel Skuf has remained a virtual ghost town following its recapture by
Peshmerga forces, with residents too afraid to return. However, some
Assyrian Christians from the area have formed a militia group to combat
IS, according to reports from September.

"We want to take our cities back from the Islamic State. We want to
protect the Christian villages. No one wants their home, life, and land
taken from them, no one wants this. I am doing this not just for me but
for the Christians of my country," one Assyrian Christian, named as
Tabya, told..